Iyengar Quotes On Yoga Poses: Backbends, Inversions And Forward Bends, Explained
Iyengar quotes on yoga poses: the short version
Why does a good teacher make you spend months on standing poses before you go near a backbend or a headstand? The Iyengar family had clear reasons. These Iyengar quotes on yoga poses cover backbends, inversions, forward bends and twists, in the words of Mr Iyengar, Geeta and Prashant. They are about order, patience and what each pose teaches.
This page in short form
- Legs before head: learn standing poses before inversions and backbends.
- Backbends: strength and stability matter as much as bend.
- Inversions: go up with a steady mind and the right set-up.
- Forward bends: the back body counts, not how far your hands reach.
- Twists: they turn the body and keep the mind busy.
- Try it: your first class is free if you are new to Flametree.
Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is sometimes called modern classical yoga, and it’s the style we teach at Flametree. His daughter Geeta and his son Prashant trained with him and became senior teachers in their own right, and you will meet their words on this page too.
Quotes appear here in the words of Mr Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar, each with where it comes from. Our notes underneath say what it means and where you may meet it in a class. All the quotes are short, credited extracts. Pages for the other topics are listed at the bottom, and the main quotes page has them all.
Which poses should you learn first?
The Iyengar family agreed on an order: ground first, then the big poses.
Inversions are not the starting point in yoga. One has to learn to stand on the legs before trying to stand on the head.
What it means: Mr Iyengar’s order is clear: legs first, head later. Before you stand on your head (Sirsasana, or Headstand), learn to stand properly on your feet. Standing poses build the strength, balance and awareness that inversions need. This is why a new student is more likely to be learning Triangle and Warrior than Headstand.
Read more: Headstand: how to learn it safely with a wall and a teacher | Why the order of yoga poses matters.
Chris Lalor in Headstand, Salamba Sirsasana, on a beach at sunset.
That is basic knowledge. You cannot straight away do backbends. Learn proper standing poses then switch over to the backbends.
What it means: Geeta gave this reply in a women’s class in Sydney in 1996, and she called it basic knowledge. You cannot go straight into backbends. Learn the standing poses properly, then move to backbends. Standing poses teach you how to lift the chest, keep the legs working and lengthen the spine. A backbend needs all three.
Read more: Quotes on standing poses | Backbend yoga.
Until you know how to come down you cannot learn how to go up!
What it means: This line is about more than yoga poses. It is about coming out of them with care. Many students are keen to get into a deep pose and forget the way back. If you cannot come down in control, you are not ready to go up. Learning to come out slowly is part of learning the pose.
Read more: Yoga inversions | Quotes on learning.
It is like soil, you have to make the soil loose. You have to dig the soil. You can’t just plant or sow the seed if the ground is hard.
What it means: Geeta uses a gardening picture. You cannot plant a seed in hard ground. You dig and loosen the soil first. For a stiff body, that means doing the preparation before the big pose. Standing poses, simple stretches and props loosen the ground. Then the deeper poses have somewhere to grow.
Read more: Yoga for flexibility and stiffness: our Yoga Notes | Quotes on practice.
You put in the efforts to go down, because you want to reach. You want to go down but after putting in the effort you have to know how to change the direction of your efforts. Efforts do not go in a straight line.
What it means: Geeta is talking about effort in a forward reach. First you work to go down. Then you must change the direction of the work. For example, you may lengthen up through the front of the body before you fold, so the head and chest travel forward instead of dropping. Her point is that effort is not a straight push. It bends and turns as the pose develops.
Read more: Seated forward bend | Quotes on effort and discipline.
What did they say about backbends?
Mr Iyengar was famous for his backbends, and he said they taught him humility.
I realised that mobility comes with backbends, but not the strength and stability.
What it means: Mr Iyengar learned this the hard way. Backbends made him bendy, but they did not make him strong or steady. Mobility is not the same as stability. A backbend needs both: a chest that opens and legs and arms that hold. Think of Ustrasana (Camel Pose) done with strong thighs and lifted chest, rather than simply leaning back.
Read more: Backbend yoga | Wheel pose: props, ropes and fear of dropping back.
Chris Lalor in Camel Pose, Ustrasana, on a mat in a Top End gorge.
I said to myself that the pride of showmanship in backbends had ruined me. I humbled myself to surrender to the asana and to look within myself while doing them.
What it means: Here a master of backbends admits that showing off hurt his own practice. So he went the other way. He humbled himself and looked inside while he did them. This is a good lesson for any impressive pose. If the pose is for the audience, the practice suffers. If it is for you, you can feel what is happening.
Read more: Quotes on philosophy.
You should know that in backbend we never touch the spine straightaway. The lengthening of the trunk has to come.
What it means: In a backbend, do not simply fold at the spine. Geeta said the lengthening of the trunk has to come first. Lift up out of the waist, then arch. This is why a teacher will ask you to lift your ribs and stretch the front body before bending back.
Read more: Wheel pose, props and ropes.
The chest expansion gives a feeling of happiness and joy.
What it means: Geeta is describing what students often report in a deep backbend such as Dvi Pada Viparita Dandasana (a supported arch, usually done over a prop). Opening the chest gives a feeling of joy. That is her observation from practice in the tradition. It is a teacher’s observation from long practice, not a promise.
Read more: Backbend yoga | Quotes on life and happiness.
What did they say about inversions?
Headstand and Shoulderstand come with plenty of detail, and a little humour.
Sarvangasana is one of the most beneficial of all the asanas. If Sirsasana is King, Sarvangasana is the Queen of all the asanas.
What it means: Sirsasana (Headstand) is called the king of poses, and Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) the queen. Geeta says the queen is one of the most beneficial of all. In the Iyengar tradition Shoulderstand is a daily pose, supported with folded blankets so the neck stays soft. A teacher usually shows you the set-up before you go up.
Read more: Shoulder stand benefits | Headstand: how to learn it safely.
You say you are practicing Sirsasana, but you are just doing it. You are on your head but the practice required is to see that your upper arms are lifted.
What it means: Being on your head is not the same as practising Headstand. Geeta says the practice is in the detail: lifting the upper arms, for example, so the weight does not sink onto the neck and head. It is a good example of the difference between doing and practising that runs through the Iyengar teaching.
Read more: Headstand: how to learn it safely.
While attempting the inversions, the fear of reversing the body position eclipses the freedom of the mind.
What it means: The authors point to fear. When your body is turned upside down, the mind can tighten, and fear can block freedom more than the pose itself. This is why inversions are taught step by step, often at a wall or with ropes. When fear shrinks a little, the pose opens up.
Read more: Handstand at the wall, without fear | Quotes on fear and courage.
Do a ‘pranogenic’ Sarvangasan instead of a photogenic Sarvangasan.
What it means: A photogenic pose looks good in a picture. A pranogenic one (from prana, the Sanskrit word for life energy or breath) feels alive inside. Prashant’s playful line says: do Sarvangasana for how it feels, not for how it looks. Breath, chest and legs are all working, even if nobody could tell from outside.
Read more: Shoulder stand benefits.
Resolve to stay. Go up to stay. Don’t go up to come down.
What it means: Prashant is talking about commitment. In a pose such as an inversion, decide to stay before you go up. If you only go up to come straight down, you never find out what is there. A pose held with a steady mind teaches more than a pose visited in a hurry.
Read more: Yoga inversions | Quotes on effort and discipline.
What did they say about forward bends and twists?
These are the poses that ask you to look inward.
When you are doing Paschimottanasana, when your head is down and your legs are straight, you cannot look at the world: you have to look within yourself.
What it means: In Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend), the head is down and the legs are straight. You cannot look around the room. Mr Iyengar says that is the point: you have to look within. The pose quietly turns your attention inward. For many students it is the first time they notice their own breath.
Read more: Seated forward bend | Quotes on attention and awareness.
Chris Lalor in a seated forward bend reaching for her feet on a Darwin beach.
If you are able to reach and hold the wrist is not an important thing. The important thing is the back body, if the dorsal thoracic area is dome-shaped and you are reaching, holding the wrists beyond the feet, you are wrong.
What it means: Do not judge a forward bend by whether your hands reach your wrists beyond your feet. Geeta said the back body matters more. If the upper back rounds like a dome while you reach, that is a mistake, however far your hands go. A belt can help you keep the back long even if your hands do not reach.
Read more: Six ways Iyengar teachers use the belt | Quotes on the body and alignment.
The heart faces the floor in all the forward extensions and this gives rest and helps one recover from fatigue.
What it means: In forward bends, the heart faces the floor. In the Iyengar tradition this makes them restful poses, which is why they often come near the end of a sequence. Think of Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), with the head heavy and the breath slow.
Read more: Why the order of yoga poses matters | Quotes on relaxation and sleep.
Chris Lalor in a standing forward bend, Uttanasana, with legs straight, by Wangi Falls.
If standing asanas stimulate, the forward extension asanas pacify the brain. The former leads towards activity and latter towards passivity.
What it means: The authors set standing poses and forward bends side by side. Standing poses stimulate and lead toward activity. Forward bends pacify and lead toward passivity. Teachers use this when planning a class: a brisk beginning, a quiet ending.
Read more: Why the order of yoga poses matters | Quotes on standing poses.
In the beginning the spine is stiff, but with practice it becomes flexible.
What it means: Stiff at the start is how nearly everyone begins. Geeta wrote that the spine is stiff in the beginning, and with practice it becomes flexible. Twists are a good place to see it. A twist that barely moves in week one may turn much further in a few months of steady practice.
Read more: Yoga twists: lengthen before you turn | Quotes for beginners.
The twisting twists the body. The twisting untwists the mind!
What it means: Prashant makes a pun. A twist turns your body. And at the same time it can untwist the mind, because it needs your full attention. It is hard to worry about your inbox while you are working out how to turn the ribs without collapsing the chest.
Read more: Yoga twists.
Chris Lalor in a seated twist on red rocks by the sea in Darwin.
Related Flametree pages
- Iyengar Yoga Poses: Pose And Practice Notes From Flametree
- Why The Order Of Yoga Poses Matters: How Iyengar Sequencing Works
- Backbend Yoga
- Yoga Inversions
- Yoga Twists
- Seated Forward Bend
More Iyengar quotes, by topic
Frequently asked questions
What did BKS Iyengar say about inversions?
He said inversions are not the starting point in yoga. One has to learn to stand on the legs before trying to stand on the head. In the Iyengar tradition students learn standing poses first, and inversions are taught step by step with a wall, blankets or ropes.
Why do Iyengar teachers teach standing poses before backbends?
Geeta Iyengar called it basic knowledge: you cannot go straight into backbends, you learn proper standing poses first. Standing poses teach you how to lift the chest, keep the legs working and lengthen the spine, and a backbend needs all three. Mr Iyengar also said mobility comes with backbends, but strength and stability do not come from bending alone.
Do I have to touch my toes in a forward bend?
No. Geeta Iyengar said whether you can reach and hold the wrist is not important. The important thing is the back body. A belt or a block lets you keep the back long even when your hands do not reach.
Where can I learn headstand, backbends and twists in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin and LIVE online, including standing poses first and inversions step by step with props. Your first class is free if you are new to Flametree. The timetable is linked in the box below.
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Your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree. New students, and anyone who has been away three months or more, can also get a half price 10 class pass, in the studio or LIVE online.
- Beginners: see the half price 10 class pass for new and lapsed students
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Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in Darwin and LIVE online. This page is general information about yoga poses, not medical advice. Every quote is a short, credited extract, and the notes under each one are Flametree’s own words.
